1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to fishing line retainer and release mechanism when trolling with an outrigger or downrigger.
2. Description of Prior Art
When trolling for fish it is desireable to present the lure or bait at the depth where fish is suspected to be holding. Fish at depths are fished with a heavy weight attached to a cable that is payed from a spool attached to a short boom anchored to the boat. Fish near the surface are fished with cables attached to pulleys on outrigger poles. A device is necessary to attach the fishing line to the cable and to release the line upon a fish striking the bait or lure. The hooked fish is then under the control of the rod and reel held by the fisherperson.
It is desireable to have the line unencumbered by any extraneous weight that could cause an unexpected failure of the line or loss of the fish. Especially when one is using light (rated at 6 pounds or less) fishing lines. As fishing with light lines appears to be the trend at the present time an improved device that permits trolling with such lines is desireable.
Typical existing devices use spring biased button clamps to hold the lines and threaded clamps, rings or spring biased clips to attach and position the devices to the cables of downriggers and outriggers. A device described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,336 to Lowden (1984) uses a resilient material to attach the device to the downrigger cable but requires clips or other devices to position the unit on the cable. The line holder described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,221,068 to Roemer (1980) employs a cam-like device actuated by a lever to lock the unit to the downrigger cable. These devices rely on spring biased methods to hold the fishing lines as many others do.
Other devices, such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,874,110, 4,031,652 and 4,656,776, use magnets in various configurations to retain the lines. The devices described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,874,110 to Larson (1975) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,652 to Johnson (1977) rely primarily upon the striking force of the fish overcoming the attractive force between the magnet and the magnetic disc and is directly dependent upon the attractive force between the two bodies. U.S. Pat. No. 4,031,652 provides the capability of adjusting the magnetic latching force and, therefore, is not dependent upon the manufacturing variability of the strength of the magnet. In both devices the magnetic disc remains on the line while the fish is being controlled by the fisherperson. Such weight induces undue strain on the line which may cause premature failure or the unexpected movements of the hooked fish may result in the loss of fish.
In the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,776 to Macachor (1987) a lever is used to develop a moment to overcome the attractive force between a magnet and magnetic disc. In this device a round post, perpendicular to the magnetic lever, is used to retain a line which is wrapped around the post. Position of the magnet is variable to increase or decrease the moment required to unlatch the magnet. However, the design appear to be difficult to use because the wrapping of the line to the post does not provide a positive means of maintaining the spacing between the device and the lure. This is especially true in cold weather when the fishing line is relatively stiff.
This shortcoming is not restricted to the Macachor design alone as other designs rely on wrapping of the lines in one manner or other to hold the line.